On May 11th, guests were invited to celebrate the opening of Visionable’s Connected Healthcare Centre, built in partnership with Verizon, and supported by Juniper Networks. The immersive, interactive centre is a collaborative space for healthcare and emergency service professionals to work together to co-create future innovations. Visitors will be able to experience how Visionable’s technology works at each stage in the care pathway, enhanced by Verizon’s secure and reliable 5G connectivity.
Verizon Business’ Group Vice President (EMEA) Scott Lawrence said: “We’ve partnered with Visionable to empower the next generation of healthcare and help make it a reality. In order to accelerate change in how healthcare is delivered, it is crucial that healthcare organisations come together and witness these transformational applications first-hand. This centre will provide a key collaboration environment for this to happen, underpinned by transformational technologies such as private 5G, enabling creative innovation to happen.”
The launch event’s impressive guest list consisted of senior NHS leaders and healthcare decision-makers, as well as representatives from leading professional organisations, including Deloitte, PwC, Verizon, Capgemini, and Juniper Networks.
Introductory speeches
The event opened with speeches from Visionable’s Chairman and co-founder Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, Visionable’s CEO and co-founder Alan Lowe, Verizon Business’ Group Vice President in Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) Scott Lawrence, and Verizon’s Managing Partner Fred Walker. The speeches emphasised the purpose and function of the centre primarily as a collaborative space for clinicians, healthcare professionals and technology organisations to work together and co-create solutions that will drive the future of healthcare delivery.
A key theme in the opening speeches was the role digital must play to overcome the biggest challenges in healthcare today, including insufficient resources and the atlas of variability across regions, nations, and the world. Lord Victor Adebowale CBA explained that the life expectancy of a woman in a poorer area of West Yorkshire was 10-15 years shorter than that of a woman in a more affluent area of the same county.
Lord Victor Adebowale CBE said: “This new centre will give visitors the opportunity to collaborate and work together to co-create future innovations for the health and care sector. We want to be able to solve the inherent health inequalities and postcode lottery which exists in healthcare right now. It is fundamentally not right that someone in the East of England receives different care when they have a stroke to someone living in London, for example. By working together, we can create innovative solutions to solve these issues. Our new centre is a chance to showcase these solutions and demonstrate how they work in practice.”
Opening the Connected Healthcare Centre
Following the speeches, an official ribbon cutting by SameYou co-founder and CEO Jenny Clarke marked the opening of the Connected Healthcare Centre. Guests were welcomed into the main area of the centre, consisting of four zones that are representative of the various stages of the care pathway: the patient’s home, emergency service vehicle, hospital ward and a rehabilitation centre.
Jenny Clarke said: “A joined-up approach is fundamental because people who are recovering from a brain injury or a stroke need emotional, cognitive, and physical help to get better and now this is segmented. By joining care across the system, it will enable people to go back to living their lives much quicker.
“Technology has a huge role to play in this on many levels. For example, Visionable enables stroke patients to connect with others who are going through the same experience and to meet specialists they would not otherwise be able to meet. By doing it in this group setting online, it reduces the amount of time one clinician needs to see people and can be more insightful.”
Patient stories
The theme of the day was patient-centric, personalised care. As such, a notable highlight was a lively panel discussion in which stroke survivor Paul Mylrea discussed his story with Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, Jenny Clarke and Alan Lowe. Paul spoke of his experience of having two strokes following COVID-19, explaining that he would not have survived had it not been for the fact that he had his first stroke at UCLH (University College London Hospitals) Private Healthcare – an organisation involved with SameYou and Visionable to deliver care and support to stroke victims.
Paul Mylrea said, “I was incredibly lucky because I went to the right hospital, which was nearby, and that helped me survive. What is important about Visionable is that it offers people such rapid and quick attention, because it is in those first minutes, those first seconds, that you can not only make a difference, but you can save somebody’s life.”
Connected Healthcare Centre in action
The opening of the Connected Healthcare Centre marks a significant step in forming the next frontier of healthcare delivery.
Alan Lowe said: “This is a really exciting next step in our journey in assisting in the large-scale transformation of healthcare. By optimising pathways to focus on rapid treatment and effective recovery, we can create new models of care. The Connected Health Centre will allow organisations to collaborate across health and technology to solve problems and change how we deliver healthcare with the patient at the centre.
“Connecting technology and making it work in a more streamlined and efficient way changes how you can deliver healthcare. Doctors no longer need to all be in the same building, which makes it more efficient. We are already seeing the impact this form of co-creation is having for patients.”
The centre is now open and available to book for team meetings, co-creation sessions and product demonstrations.
